The Youngster & The Geriatric

Sonic has finished his Masters Agility title. Not bad for a young boy of not yet three years of age! Overall his runs over the last couple of weeks have been really good. His confidence is continuing to grow and he is reading my body extremely well. But I am still having an issue with his start lines. The first week that I kept going back and resetting him he steadily improved over the day when I think he realised that I meant it. Then at training during the week he was sitting there as still and straight as a little solder at attention. But yesterday at the trial he kept getting up again. I'll give it another few weeks before looking at plan b given that I'm trying to extinguish a behaviour which often then gets worse before it gets better. I'm just a bit worried that going back and resetting him could become rewarding in itself even though I'm being very unemotional about it. I had to blow three runs yesterday cause he just would not stay and I had to cross the start line to put him back into a stay. The next step if this doesn't work may be that I actually remove him from the ring completely if he gets up. I'm thinking it may have to be if the bottom moves he's back to the car with not so much as a 'hows your mother'.... He won't like it thats for sure, which is kind of the point I guess. We shall see.

Then last weekend the Murphster gave us a bit of a fright. I'd been at a trial all day and Colin had gone to the movies with his son. When Colin got home to let Murphy and Soda out Murphy kept collapsing. Colin rushed him to the vet and I left the trial to meet him there. All the worst scenarios were going through my head e.g. brain tumour, as I was driving there. When I arrived Murph looked really confused and was extremely unsteady on his feet. The vet gave him a good going over and diagnosed him with vestibulitis caused by a broken blood vessel in his ear. He told us it is very common in geriatric dogs. I had to cover Murphy's ears when the vet mentioned the word geriatric as I'd hate for Murph to think that the vet was referring to him. I'm fairly certain that Murphy doesn't think he's a geriatric just yet!

Apparently there is no treatment for vestibulitis, it just resolves itself over a couple of weeks and Murphy has definately improved since diagnosed. He spent the first couple of days with his head tilted to one side and regularly careering off on an angle only to collapse in a heap. Various household items have been at risk, namely the wine rack but some body blocking has protected both dog and valuables. One week on he is still very unsteady on the pins first thing in the morning but is generally pretty good. He is his normal happy bright self which is the main thing and I'm pretty sure he's been enjoying all the extra attention he's been getting.

Mr Enthusiastic

The Agility Club of WA hosted their usual fantastic trial last weekend. To have a double header wrapped up by 3.30pm was pretty impressive to say the least. Its so nice to go to a trial that is run so efficiently with all the trimmings included. It was also one of the rare occasions when there were prizes for placing in classes. These days the most you often get is a ribbon or rosette with your Q card but ACWA had all sorts of dog toys, bowls, beds etc to pick from if you were in the top three. It certainly added a lot of fun to presentations.

I had a much improved trial compared with the weekend prior which started off with Lexi getting three Q's out of her first four runs and Sonic managing Q's in both of the mornings Masters events. In particular his first up run in Masters Agility was one of his best runs since he starting competing. He absolutely powered around the course and just to see how it would go I let him hit two on two off and then released him straight away. He was extremely amped and squawked and screamed the whole way round. In fact he did lots of that in all his runs over the day. Another sign of his continuing improvement was his fourth place behind three very fast dogs all of who ran through their contacts. He also beat a couple of fast dogs who normally place in front of him. So I'm feeling incredibly positive about the steady way he is growing as an agility dog and the team we are slowly becoming.

The down side to the day was his atrocious start lines again. I did quite a bit of reinforcement outside the ring but the problem is that once he gets in front of that first jump he just wants to go. I am excited that he is so keen but I'm going to have to blow a few trials trying to recover it. Unfortunately I can see no other way. The afternoon events also saw some really fluctuating focus from Sonic. He would start off great but then totally lose it halfway round the course, do a few wrong obstacles and then keep on going. We left the course on more than one occasion... I can only assume it is lack of maturity.

We have another double trial this weekend at Gosnells Dog Club. Sonic only has one more Q required for his Masters Agility title but I have a feeling most of his runs will be over before they've begun if I'm going to attempt to repair his start line! Either that or I'm going to have to invest in some super glue...

Birthday Celebrations

Did someone say it's my Burfday??

It's time to celebrate the Murphsters birthday. On 9/6/2010 he turned a big thirteen years of age (or 68 in dog years). Murphy has a pretty laid back life these days. He still loves to go for a "run" with the other dogs but really is quite happy to trot along with me. Sleeping on his favourite bed is another popular past time and after a trot around the block in the evening it is always where you'll find him. His eye sight and hearing are definately not what they were but I'm fairly sure that there is plenty that he hears but chooses not to respond to. Unfortunately he does get knocked over every now and again by the sillier dog members of the house because if they are coming at him at full speed down the track he just can't get out of the way in time. He does of course enjoy the attention and cuddles afterwards when we rush over to make sure he's OK.


Out herding in 2002

Murphy was my very first border collie. Back in 1997 when I was ready to get a pup I saw an ad in the paper for an expected litter of chocolate and white border collies. I had always loved the colour so I contacted the breeder and went over to meet her dogs. As Leanne brought each of her dogs up to the house to meet me I was impressed how wonderfully happy and friendly each one was. I really liked Murphy's mum Rosie and the father, Clancy, was a well known dog from NSW. So I put my name down for a boy and went home hoping to hear some good news very soon. When I got the phone call that Rosie had given birth to six pups, five of which were boys, I went down and picked out Murphy. My method of choosing him was very scientific. He had a cute "thumbprint" mark on the middle of his head like his mother...


Murphy at two years of age

I started out with obedience first as soon as Murphy was old enough and joined a few different clubs around Perth. Not long after I discovered agility and began Murphy and mines education on teaching the equipment and putting it all together. Back then there was pretty much no instruction available. Everyone just figured it out for themselves as best as possible. No one had heard of a "two on two off" or even a "front cross". You pretty much ran a course and hoped for the best. It wasn't until a few years later, probably early 2000 that a few people started to take note of what was happening overseas and adopted some of those training methods and styles. I worked through to CDX in obedience with Murphy. I started training both Soda and Murphy for UD but as Soda just picked it up so quickly I decided to continue with her rather than try and train both of them.


National Agility Trial 2003 Melbourne, Victoria

Murphy loved his agility. Although he won many classes over the years he was never a speed demon like Soda. Everyone knew him as "Mr Consistency" as he would get clear round after clear round. He never won as much as Soda but he had twice as many Q cards in his collection. He was a brilliant teams dog and was on the winning team for all the big events including multiple Western Classics and Royal Shows. He was also selected on the State Team for the 2005 National Agility Trial. I ended up retiring him from agility after being on the winning Royal Show Agility Team in 2007. He had tried his heart out for me that day but I could see that although his mind was willing his body wasn't holding out so well. I still did a couple of Not For Competition jumping runs over the following year with him jumping a much lower height but they were kept to a minimum. I know he would love to have continued but his long term health and well being is the only thing that is important to me. He certainly had nothing left to prove, I knew how awesome he was.


Our first big Team win, "BC Bandits" Western Classic 2002
L-R Helen & Dee (RIP), me with Murphy & Soda, Rod & Bundy (RIP)

Murphy also sired a few litters of pups in his prime. One of which is Am Ch Borderfame Choc Chill (Sprint) who won extensively in the US breed show ring and then went on to be a prolific sire in the US. Sprint is stunning and was used as the foundation dog at Hot Shot Kennels.


Snoozing in the sun - VERY popular past time

Even in his twilight years Murphy is still my main man. I have no doubt that he would protect me with his life if he had to. Out of my three boys, Murphy, Riot and Sonic he is the only one who truly means business when push comes to shove. He is incredibly protective of his "pack" (even Riot who I'm sure he doesn't like all that much!) and if another dog tries to infiltrate and harass one of his pack he will deal with it very swiftly. The other two boys will stand there trying to look impressive with lots of posturing and posing but Murphy just goes over and "bang" it is dealt with, no mess, no fuss.


The gang 2005 (pre Sonic)

Hopefully with continued good health and a good lifestyle I will have him in my life for a few years to come.

Winter Blues

Training is still a slack affair. I just can’t find it in me to get really motivated about it. You know I think it’s a bit of a middle of the year winter thing. I get home from work and it’s getting dark and cold. Being home with the fire going after taking a stroll (or in Sonic’s case a screaming kamikaze hoon) around the property is just a more appealing option. I have been doing some more Crate Games work though from the comfort of my living room. I want to use Crate Games extensively with my next pup so Sonic and I have been practicing to improve some of his behaviours (like start lines – see below). When I’ve actually made it to training I’ve been playing a little with doing some quick releases with Sonic on contacts but I don’t think he’s mature enough for me to do them at a trial yet. He’ll no doubt just think it means he can quick release them all the time!

I went to an agility trial at Northern Suburbs Dog Club in Carine on Sunday which this time last year was the scene of the Sonic vs scooter child incident. This year however we were up on the footy oval which thankfully isn’t next to the bike path… The trial itself only yielded one quallie card for us but I was actually really thrilled with his performances and the one Q definitely did not reflect how well Sonic ran for me. Sonic’s confidence continues to grow and it was purely bad luck that prevented us from qualifying in both Masters Agility rounds. One was most definitely my error and the other he just didn’t read my body properly, which is still really my fault. Just watching his runs back on video I can see how much more understanding he has developed and how much more certain he is about where he is going. Plus I also think I’m handling him a lot better. It’s taken quite a while but I feel like we are starting to gel as a team and as I move around the course it feels so much smoother and flowing which I have no doubt is helping immensely. I’ve been working hard to use running front crosses in stead of stationary ones where possible which makes the flow nice and continuous. The hardest part is not falling over my own feet, or the obstacle in front of me.

However don’t let the video footage fool you, his start lines right now are BAAAD. He ran a fantastic clear round in a Master Jumping course only after he had broken his start line and gone flying over the first two obstacles. At which point I promptly stopped him and took him back to the start again. As I was walking out to position I could see that he was teetering on a knife’s edge as to whether his butt was going to stay put or not (which obviously it didn’t). In more than one class I had to go back and tell him to sit after he stood up in anticipation of being released. After I went back and made him sit in one class he then proceeded to bark at me while I walked back out to position. Can’t fault his enthusiasm but I hate not being able to put my dog on the line and being able to walk out WITHOUT worrying that he’s going to break. At training he is a perfect angel (naturally) so other than trying to break it at training to make it stronger I guess I’m going to have to persevere with not letting him get away with it by going back and resetting him when we are at trials. I’ve never had a dog that wouldn’t stay on his start line before! It’s so stupid, I’ve taught all these complex behaviours but can’t get my dog to stay…..go figure.

Down on the Ranch

Driveway to Heaven - there is a house up there somewhere!


The delights of an evening stroll. Who needs agility!

I've decided its time to stop all this crazy running around that I seem to find myself doing an aweful lot of and spend some time enjoying the beautiful property that we live on. The last couple of months have been non-stop. Between hours spent writing up a selection criteria as part of an application for a new job, preparing for the Agility Nationals, stressing out/preparing for the interview for the new job, workshops and articles for Better Pets, agility training, plus a very full work schedule. I have to say that I am really well and truly over it.


VERY happy boys

So this week, other than teaching my agility class on Tuesday night, I've been spending my evenings at home and it's been great. The property has gone green since we got our first rain, there are birds everywhere and with snakes back to hibernation land the dogs are able to really have some fun here. They certainly sleep very well at night.




"Rabbit Highway"

I love that when I get home from work I can just open the back gate and let them go for it. The boys use the firebreak as their own personal racetrack. Murphy and Soda are happy these days just to potter along at their own pace. There are always new smells near the "rabbit highway" that runs straight across the back of our property under the fence and through the grass trees. I love that the days of having to put the dogs in the car and drive somewhere to exercise them all the while worrying about whether there was going to be other dogs around and potential altercations are behind us. Everytime I start walking around the property I just exhale.


My future agility training area - just add grass




Boys on the run

Riot's new ad for the Sids for Kids campaign has hit the our TV screens on Channel 9. I actually managed to be watching when it was on for a change and I think it looks great. Riot looks fantastic and Shannon is stunning. My cameo did indeed make it to the finished product of the full ad. Not sure I needed to take up as much time as I did though and way closer up than I had in mind...Next time if I get asked if I could jump in for a quick shot I may not be quite so keen to say OK! I much prefer standing behind the camera while Riot does all the work.


Should be enough wood to get us through winter......now where's that damn chain saw?

More lovely Q's

Last weekend saw our first mad dash to Geraldton for the year to complete two days of agility trialling. Entries were a little bit lower than normal as quite a few of the regulars were overseas watching and competing in the IFCS Agility Worlds in the UK which meant I had to get up there a little earlier to make the first event. Sonic, Lexi and I left Perth at 5am and with a pretty good run on the highway made it to Geraldton by 10am. The course was in the middle of being set up when we arrived so we didn't have much time to do anything other than stretch our legs and get the dogs toileted.

I didn't hold up much hope for our first class (Open Agility) and was expecting it to be a bit rough, however I couldn't have been more wrong. Sonic ate the course up, handled the distance challenge like a pro and ended up not only going clear, but taking out first place. The rest of the weekend followed a similar theme with a total of six clear rounds out of nine starts. Sonic is starting to get confident reading my body and it's making a huge difference. My favourite run of the weekend was a Masters Jumping run on the first day. He moved out beautifully and on some parts of the course was really powering on. There is still room for improvement but he is definately getting closer. Agility on the whole is good. His contacts and weavers are solid but he's not moving out between his obstacles as much as I'd like. Although I can see that his confidence is growing I can also see that he is still cautious in between obstacles and isn't really driving out between turns. There are moments when he does but it's not consistent.

But even being my normal overly critical self I have to say that Sonic was fantastic. It is so great to have reached a point where we are having some really solid performances and starting to find that groove where we are reading each other successfully on course. And he was really trying his little butt off for me and having a fab time in the process. It's hard to ask for more than that. On the training agenda for the next couple of weeks will be continuing with the revision of Crate Games. I'm working on Stage 3 which includes doing collar grabs and the dog coming out and going into the crate. Seems to be going well and Sonic is getting really amped up when I grab his collar. It was something he really didn't like before. I'll also keep working on him driving out of turns because that is still what costs us the most time. I was watching some of the IFCS Worlds and you see the dogs just hit the ground after an obstacle and they power straight off. Most definately something that I aspire to having Sonic do!



Riot has also had to contribute to the household over the last week filming a commercial for the Sids for Kids Red Nose Day annual campaign which is 25th June 2010. Better Pets & Gardens are sponsoring Sids and Kids as part of Red Nose Day so Riot teamed up with Shannon MacGuire who is the Sids and Kids ambassador for this year with her gorgeous son Marley. Shannon is totally stunning and both her and Riot made for some beautiful footage. Riot was a good boy and was as compliant as ever. There were no great training demands on him other than to look handsome but I had to chuckle when he was trying to offer behaviours to the sound boom as it hovered overhead. He obviously thought it was a target stick and managed a well timed paw wave so hopefully it will make it to the final cut of the ad. I even make a brief cameo as I stroll through the BP&G store....

Agility Nationals WA 2010

Oooops.... (photo by Robyn Evans)

I think all of the WA agility community has released a collective sigh of relief. The 2010 National Agility trial is complete. Peace has been restored.

The ANWA organising committee did a spectacular job. I know they copped a really hard time over how the different heights were going to work but to their credit it all worked amazingly over the four days. Having separate heights for a National was long overdue. Now we just have to hope that future states take on the challenge and continue to make it even bigger and better. The Dogs West grounds looked brilliant with all of us parking around the edge of the rings which gave it a real carnival atmosphere.

Sonic was brilliant. Never did I think that he had the maturity to compete for four days solid and give me everything he had in every run. I have been frustrated by his inconsistent focus so I tried to improve our transitions when I was preparing him for our turn in the ring. I did the usual routine where I get him out of the car get him relaxed, build up to a game of tug followed by focus games but this time instead of walking into the ring and then losing him when I get to the start line I tried really hard to keep the connection going by talking to him with his “rev up” words. It means pretty much ignoring the judge until the very last minute but so be it. He did glance around a couple of time but they were more quick flicks and then back to me rather than gazing into the distance and me having to call him to get his attention back. I will continue to work on it though to try and get him not looking back at all.


Another awesome picture by Robyn Evans

His contact behaviours were spot on every time, straight down to two on two off, no creeping or stopping in the colour. I didn’t hold him in position but released as soon as he hit position. Ever since his contacts got broken at ADAA where the judges chase the dogs down the dog walk to check the colour, then proofed them (thanks Simone!) at training, they have been absolutely rock solid. I can’t wait until I can do early releases to help improve our course times but right now I just don’t think he’s ready. It’s certainly not worth wrecking his contacts at this early stage of his career. After the first two days of perfect contacts and no reinforcement I did take him to the practice ring and give him a couple of belts over them with high value rewards just in case I wore them out!

In the end Sonic came second in Novice Gamblers, seventh in Novice Snooker (all dogs that placed higher than him were competing at the last Nationals almost two years ago, some in Novice Snooker…), second in Novice Strategic Pairs (no thanks to me and some seriously dodgy handling) AND the big one, made the Masters Jumping final!!! Considering the calibre of the dogs in Masters Jumping I thought that it was a pretty special achievement for a baby dog. Masters Jumping was the very last final on the last day. I was a little nervous but didn’t feel any pressure as I had no expectations of grandeur, rather I just wanted to see how he’d cope. The ring was totally surrounded by onlookers and the atmosphere was very different to a normal trial. I did my set up routine and got really great focus from him. Sonic got up from his sit position when I led out but didn’t actually break so I didn’t go back to him to reset. It was naughty but he was so keen. We made it to obstacle 18 which was a broad jump without error, but unfortunately I think his legs were going quicker than his brain was so he hit it good and proper. Then he knocked the second last jump. Other than that it was a great run with his speed building as we went. I actually didn’t handle jump 4 to 6 the best. I used a rear cross when a front would have tightened him up a lot more. It probably cost me at least a second, maybe more. In the end the winning time was 27.64sec and an awesome run from Julies and Mac’s Disco Diva, with Sonic coming in at 30.23. Taking into considering my sloppy handling and his stumble it was a super achievement. Once Sonic matures and I am able to get him powering out of his turns and tightening up more I have no doubt that he will be a force to be reaconed with.